Unknown ownership blocks restoration of Bauska Holocaust memorial

The Holocaust memorial in Vecsaules Forest in Bauska Municipality needs urgent restoration, but its ownership is unclear, preventing the municipality from funding the work, LSM reported. The municipality has contacted the Israeli Embassy to seek a solution.

The local authority estimates restoration would cost about 90,000 euros. It says it cannot contribute the money because it does not have the funds and the memorial needs an identified owner.

The memorial commemorates around 500 to 600 Jews from Bauska and the surrounding area who were killed in a Nazi-organised mass murder in August 1941. The dolomite monument, titled “Human Figures” and created by sculptor Imants Murovskis, was unveiled in 1971.

Bauska Museum director Aigars Urtāns said the memorial needs extensive restoration. Plants have taken root around the stones, and their roots are damaging the dolomite. Parts of the monument are crumbling and falling away.

The memorial stands on state forest land. The Vecsaune parish administration and local residents maintain the surrounding grounds, but the monument’s ownership has not been formally established. Bauska Municipality council chairman Aivars Mačeks said there was unofficial information that the memorial had been built by the World Jewish community, but no official records confirming this had been found.

Vecsaune librarian Agrita Hatkēviča said local residents had shared accounts of the killings, including hearing shots at night and later being invited to collect the victims’ belongings. She recalled reciting a poem at the memorial’s unveiling when she was a schoolgirl.